Tag Archives: Twitter

We know that (at least) the USA’s NSA (National Security Agency) has direct access to the PRISM companies’ servers. Above is what used to be a secret slide which describes its intent very clearly.

But what is PRISM – apart from its obvious connotations to spying, terrorism or Ian Fleming’s SPECTRE!?

It is the codename for a US government surveillance programme and has been in existence since 2007 . Its purpose is to monitor foreign communications which pass through US computer servers.

There has already been a lot of debate about the existence of this proactive programme designed to spy – and not only on possible terrorist or criminal targets. The scope of PRISM is far greater because to identify the bad guys, it is inevitable that the government also has to snoop on the good guys. Why? Because the bad guys don’t only communicate with other bad guys so it is inevitable that perfectly innocent messages and site visits are monitored- but that it not the most serious issue.

The most frightening issue is that a government has given itself powers and IT IS NOT WITHIN A GOVERNMENT’S MANDATE TO GIVE ITSELF POWERS.

Any democratic government’s powers must come from the people. Unfortunately, on this occasion, we are too late and the seeds of tyranny have already been planted.

This genie is well-and-truly out of the bottle!

The “terrorism” excuse has previously only been used in order to excuse illegal invasion, destruction or state-sanctioned assassination. But, because we have now become totally conditioned into believing the “as long as the word ‘terrorism’ is in the sentence, it’s for your own good” excuse, we all have the status of potential terrorists.

Make no mistake, this is no “one-off”. Here is a list of what is under surveillance (and don’t forget – it is indiscriminate).

Audio and video chats, photographs, e-mails, documents, and connection logs… Skype can be monitored for audio when one end of the call is a conventional telephone, and for any combination of “audio, video, chat, and file transfers” when Skype users connect by computer alone. Google’s offerings include Gmail, voice and video chat, Google Drive files, photo libraries, and live surveillance of search terms.

So the next time you are considering an intimate SKYPE “one-on-one” with your boyfriend, girlfriend (or both!)…..think! There could be a government operative at Langle, Beijing, the Kremlin or GCHQ watching (purely for “terrorist” and “for your own good” reasons, of course!).

Finally, PRISM’s first collaborator was Microsoft – way back in 2007. Here’s another slide showing the timeline of when the others came aboard.

His Excellency, St Stephen of Fry, the media’s Gay Mafia Ambassador has once again flounced and left his 1.9 million star-struck Twitter admirers staring into the abyss of a future without His Excellency’s oh-so-clever musings and self-obsessive bollocks.

It seems that gay is the new black. There was a time when racist abuse was the unforgivable social sin – now, if you’re at all disrespectful of a prancing poofter, you are well and truly in the shit. (!) Oops!

So who is Fry? There are those who say that this self-important oaf is clever. Pause and think – what is he clever at? What is his forte – apart from pseudo-erudite jive-talk? He is the ultimate media “jack-of-all-trades”, the poor man’s Peter Ustinov and as Julie Burchill once said, “the thicko’s idea a clever person”.

He “amuses” the prince of Wales at Highgrove suppers. Wow! A modern jester whose motley is more Emperor’s New Clothes than substance.

He is obviously damaged because what he craves more than anything is approval. Approval and esteem in the eyes of others are his “raisons d‘être“. His carefully contrived, constructed and regurgitated little homilies which appear both in his speech and in his Tweets are only modern in the sense that they are disposable. Most owe more to J.I. Rodale (look it up) than they do to spontaneity.

Because he’s a “celebrity”, an Attitude Magazine hack asked him for his views on sex (what else do you ask someone who is known for having as much sex as His Excellency?). Unfortunately, Stephen must have imagined that he was sitting at HRH’s dinner table with the port on its third lap because he went on and on…and on and talked bollocks. That was followed be even more bollocks.

It was then reported verbatim but according to the man himself, it was “out-of-context”. Yawn. Apparently, he was being “humorous”.

During the interview, he imagined that if women liked sex as much as men, there would be straight cruising areas – just as there are gay ones.

Reality check for the (largely) celibate one: WTF do you think that pubs, clubs, am-dram societies and “working late” are for? Admittedly, it’s not quite as exciting as entering a public lavatory and sticking your knob through a hole in the wall but we sad heterosexuals manage to put up with the comparative warmth and comfort.

Skulking around in park bushes may be “cruising” to some but most of us “straights” prefer central heating.

Just wait. The Deluded One will be back “by popular demand”. Yeah, right. Popular.

Admittedly, he has many followers who believe that by following the Sainted St Stephen, they will appear clever-by-association or through some process of Tweetosmosis. Forget it guys. You’re encouraging Stephen to confuse popularity with our collective worship of celeb-fatuousness – especially when it’s sprinkled with Fry Fairy Dust.

Finally, this is one gay dude who belongs to that media group of batty boys who believe that being gay is not just a vaginophobic lifestyle choice for those saddos who found girls difficult to talk-to before they became officially gay. He is one of the gang which truly thinks that gayness (didn’t it used to be gaiety) is an endowment or gift.

It isn’t.

So, the next time a hack from a downmarket magazine asks you about your views on sexuality and sex – butt out.

Here in the UK, the gossip website Twitter.com has suddenly taken off like a rocket , all because of last week’s discussion between His Holiness Stephen Fry and the potty-mouthed Jonathan (call me Ranker) Ross.

Inevitably, Twitter has the usual itinerant population of Hypnotists, Holistic Healers, Motivational Speakers and “How would you like to make $3500 per day” merchants but it is so much fun.

The idea is very simple – you register and put down your thoughts and deeds as often as you like – as long as each entry is no longer than 140 characters. A sort of electronic Haiku. You can also “follow” others’ entries and you can allow as many people as you want to follow your musings.

Currently, Stephen is undoubtedly UK’s “Mr Twitter” as he has over 100,000 followers (or should I say disciples?).

So what exactly is it for?

In the beginning there was email but originally, that involved sentences, grammar , punctuation and all that old-fashioned stuff. All that superfluous fluff was soon removed and for good measure, vowels were also rmvd. Thus the text message was born. All in the name of as little effort as possible.

A few years ago, the Blog was invented. A Blog is a personal website where you can write anything you want, in the hope that others read it, but there is a catch. Paragraphs, punctuation, spelling and all that jazz are again the order of the day. If you want to look like a writer, apparently you need all that formal stuff. There along came Twitter – a shorthand blog. Most of us can write something in 140 letters and spaces – so Twitter is a great leveller.

Those with the brain of an isopod may fashion to appear as clever as the eruditiously tumid St. Stephen of Fry.

Twitter.com is the 21st century version of Vanity Publishing and has all the characteristics of being of its time. It is quick, shallow and disposable – but luscious.

There some very famous individuals sharing their thoughts and deeds – for instance , we all knew by early this morning that “Schofe” was snowed-in and would not be appearing on This Morning and St. Stephen was in the recording studio. Mundane? Yes.

Definitely a case of the Bland reading the Bland. But wait…………

This morning, I was informed by email that a very well-known person was “following” me. I must admit to a slight “frisson” and am currently trying to compose something very learned and witty – all within the constraints of 140 characters. Hmm……………

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